Sweet Summer Changes
a late announcement, a movie jar, some summer math, fridge book lists
You know, I meant to tell all of you a long time ago that I was pregnant with our 5th child, due in October; but there hasn’t been a good moment. Summer where we live is just so good, and anticipating a newborn has made me even more likely to bask in the (relative) peace of four children who can all swim safely at the same time. In the context of a newsletter about homeschooling, my mind immediately goes to what this will change. I imagine more unschooling—in the sense that I will likely let go of the reins of much for awhile, and just see what appeals to them.
One thing I am actively avoiding for this fall are online classes. For all their benefits I’m well aware of the insistent disruption of getting things ready to hop on, remembering to be home on time, reminding of them homework that I didn’t even know existed until I log on to check (oftentimes at 7am that morning).
The oldest is 13 now and has now had four years of online Latin through Scholé Academy. No regrets there. She’ll be using the Latin program that Classical Conversation incorporates in their Challenge program, which uses Henle Latin. She has a lot of opinions about how much worse the Henle approach is when compared to the slow build of Schole Academy, but that is a natural response when comparing a curriculum designed to throw 7th graders into the thick of things, rather than build slowly over the years. The 11yr old has had two years and I’d really like her to take the year off. Scholé’s third year is majority a year of translation, which is really fun, but involves lots of “side by side” learning….not a good fit for lifestyle with a newborn.
A Movie Jar! 🌟This was an innovation requested by the 8yr old that has really changed our weekly movie nights. We all put movie requests into a jar and pull out a different one each time. That’s it. It’s genius. It solves the debating process, which is always the worst part of family movie night. And Mom’s suggestions finally have a flying chance of being watched, without me advocating for them! I had been requesting Brewster’s Millions, for oh I don’t know—months? Finally got to share it with them. Waking Ned DeVine. Balto. Babe.
The other benefit is that any time we think of a good title, that individual can write it down, drop it in the jar right then, and let the hands of fate take over from there.
The Summa Domestica I am working my way through Leila Lawler’s beautiful three volume set of The Summa Domestica (affiliate link, and look for it secondhand if you can). Yes, three volumes on household culture and cultivation! I don’t agree with everything I read, but by enormous majority I find her perspective and insight to be deeply thoughtful and wise. Perhaps we’ve all seen households run well, but rarely has that skill been articulated on the page. In fact, as a reader of countless novels, one of my great heartaches is how little is articulated of a home run or home-running. The female authors I’ve read in abundance rarely make time to say how they did it. This fact, I propose, accounts for some of the popularity of reading cookbooks. Cookbooks hint at the oils of the machinery—the pantry “staples,” the“tips,” the suggested meals, the fluid opening paragraphs that lightly tie meals together. But no one, to return to our author at hand, will write the following to you like Lawler does:
Let me ask you: When you are making your resolutions, do you have at the top of your list these two items: feeding and clothing your particular horde? Because if you do, things will go well for you this year. And this is why: no matter what other duties you have, the two biggest challenges you will face will be—ta da!—cooking dinner and doing the laundry. Conversely, if you have a grip on these two areas—if you have serenity when contemplating the dining table or the washing machine—you will be rational in your approach to all other areas of your life: saving money, cleaning up, using your time well, loving your family more, having reading time with your kids, teaching them Latin—you name it! It will all go better if you have order in these two fundamental duties.
The way my skin chills in defense when reading that…even as I agree? I think there is probably a long digression in here about how culturally we fetishize tasks done in isolation—Martha Stewart or Ina Garten mastering recipes for us sans toddlers around ankles or thrifty budgets, the social media accounts devoted to perfect laundry and packaged organizing, the photos of organized snack drawers (no sign of spattered broths, oozing casseroles and somewhat-limp salads that are there as well, I’m sure), the budgeting software that makes no mention of how very dull grocery shopping can be. But for now just let the woman’s recommendation lie and see where it gets you.
I won’t be able to sum up all that I’ve enjoyed and learned from a three volume set about cultivating a thriving household in an intentional manner, but I do want to share that I’m reading and enjoying it!
Here’s an evocative quote from a recent blog post of hers, another place she writes (that I don’t read that often tbh). Radical thinking on availability and efficiency…
When did we determine that our availability, secured by our resistance to outside commitments, especially transactional ones, is a burden? It is, in fact, freedom, both personal and societal. And without the availability of the mother, we are even less able than we thought to help others restore peace in our world.
My approach is to show the pragmatic beginnings for the woman, the heart of the home, so susceptible to doubt, so ready to be swayed by the voices pulling her away! Tidy up that room, fold that laundry, start that supper early. Detach from the sense that your hours need to be billable, so to speak. Be inefficient in the eyes of the world and efficient to your own standards.
Two Book Lists & Two ResponsesI made two book lists, one for the rising 8th grader and the rising 6th grader. I was feeling a tad bereft on behalf of the “old” books that weren’t getting pulled from the shelves this summer. Graphic novel renditions of storylines have flooded the library shelves and they are amazing, but it was hard to see them be the only chosen stories at bedtimes, driving times, pool times.
So I made these lists, added financial incentives, tacked the lists to the fridge, and left it at that.
One child immediately attached to the list and is systematically working her way through every title. Another child has, by majority, ignored the list, choosing to read through a popular murder mystery series instead. (Admittedly, 8th grade books are more difficult than 6th grade books.)
Either way, the lists can stay up all year and can be referenced as needed for inspiration.
If you would like to see the lists, here they are! Copy, paste, edit at will, etc. There are a number of books that should probably be on the 7th & 8th grade list (The Westing Game!) but I didn’t add them because she had already read them. So it’s not comprehensive, in that sense. Maybe someday I’ll edit and update it.
Khan Academy, a gift to mankindThe 8yr old asked to do math this summer, and on a lark I decided to try Khan Academy, which begins their formal curriculum program for math in 3rd grade. It is free! And great! I guess I’m the last to engage with this reality? She does it for 15 minutes a day and is already 10% of the way through the year. Sal Khan does the videos himself, which blew my mind when I recognized his voice. I definitely thought he was outsourcing that by now?
If you try it for the first time, learn from my mistake and create child accounts, rather than tying your main email to one child’s progress.
And finally, a quote for youif you convinced me that my kids scrolling on their phones for four hours a day, had no outcome on their mental health at all — it did not make them more anxious — it did not make them more depressed — it would change my view on this not at all. I just think, as a way of living a good life, you shouldn’t be staring at your phone for four hours a day.
And yet, I also realize the language of society right now and parenting doesn’t have that much room for that. And I think we have a lot of trouble talking about just what we think a good life would be. Not a life that leads to a good job, not a life that leads to a high income, but just the idea, which I think we were more comfortable talking in terms of at other points in history, that it is better to read books than to not read books, no matter if you can measure that on somebody’s income statement or not.
-Ezra Klein in an interview about attention. Podcast. Transcript.
I'm so glad to hear about your new baby due in October, Rachael! I may give Kahn Academy a try this year with my rising 3rd grader. Thank you for continuing to write and share!
I'm grateful for these book lists, Rachael! I should read Count of Monte Cristo alongside Parker, in fact... (the movie is a family favorite, by the way; add to the jar!).
I meant to ask, with baby on the way–– are you tutoring this year??